How do you choose an electric heater?
Choose an electric heater
Before you choose an electric heater, it's important to ask yourself the following questions:
- Which room do you want to use the heater in?
- How quickly do you want your room to heat?
- How large is the room you want to heat?
- How do you want to place the heater?
Which room are you going to use the heater in?
Not every heater is suitable for every room. That's why it's important to decide in advance where you want to use the heater. For example, you'll want a quiet heater in the bedroom, while a heater that heats up quickly is most suitable for the garage. And when you use the heater in the bathroom, it's important that it's waterproof.
How fast do you want the room to heat up?
Fan heater: fast with a lot of noise
A fan heater is small and heats the room quickly, but produces a lot of noise. This makes them less suitable for heating the bedroom.
Convection heater: slow, without noise
A convection heater is similar to a permanent radiator in your home. It takes 15 to 30 minutes for the heater to warm up. This makes it less suitable for rooms you don't spend much time in, such as the garage.
Infrared heater: fast, without noise
You can feel the heat of an infrared heater right away. This means that you can also use these heaters in rooms where you don't stay in for long, such as the bathroom. In addition, these heaters don't produce any noise, which is nice for your bedroom or study.
How large is the space you want to heat?
Fan and convection heaters: square meters
Fan heaters and convection heaters heat the air in a room. The size of the room determines how much power the electric heater needs. With a 100W heater, you can heat a room of 12m2, while a 2500W heater can heat rooms of 20m2.
Infrared heaters: distance from the heater
Infrared heaters emit radiant heat and heat people and objects in the room. This means that the size of the room isn't important, but the distance between you and the heater is. The power of infrared heaters determines how close you have to be to the heater to feel the heat. For example, the ideal distance from a 400W heater is 5m. For a 770W heater, that's 9m.
How do you want to place the heater?
Finally, it's important that you ask yourself how you want to place the heater. You can place an electric heater on the floor or mount it to the wall or ceiling. With some electric heaters, you can both place them on a surface and mount them to a wall.